Rescue
by SKLewis
Summary: Neville captures Charlie, considering her the perfect pawn against Miles, who is willing to do whatever takes to get her back. Someone else may hold the key to getting her out. Jarlie
1. Chapter 1

Neville circled the chair in which he'd bound Charlie Matheson. "You know, the order was to kill you on sight. Had it been anyone else that spotted you but that son of mine, you'd be dead right now and Matheson would be finding your body."

She just stared straight ahead, not saying a word, not willing to give in even one inch.

"Your uncle teach that to you? Interrogation 101?" he slapped her, wanting a reaction. She didn't give him one. "He taught you well, I see."

Neville pulled another chair out of a corner, putting it close to her's. He sat down in it, to look her in the face. "I suppose you think that precious uncle and his posse are going to ride in and rescue you any minute. I sincerely doubt that, as I have nearly a hundred men of my own here. Miles has, what, just himself and two or three others now? I heard about the death of his girlfriend. Pity. She was the only real soldier he had." This wasn't nearly as much fun as he thought it'd be, since the Matheson girl wouldn't even acknowledge he was in the room much less that he held her life in his hands. "I didn't want to have to do this, but you're giving me little choice since you won't speak to me or, for that matter, even look at me." Slowly, delibrately he pulled a knife out of a sheath at his waist. "See this?"

Charlie's eyes widened slightly, just enough for him to notice. She tried not to show her alarm.

"So, finally something gets your attention." Neville had to smile. "Well, the order was, and still is, to kill you or your mother on sight. No questions asked. I even have a reward for the one who does the job." He twirled the knife in front of her face.

A sudden pounding on the heavy door behind her grabbed his attention. "Don't move. You and I still have some talking to do." He crossed the room quickly and cracked the door open a few inches.

"Jason, I am very busy right now."

"Dad, please, just leave her alone." Jason pleaded.

"I promised not to kill her. That's going to have to be good enough for you. Your little girlfriend is a Matheson and that's simply not allowed."Neville raised his eyebrows, he'd been over this more then once with the boy.

"Don't hurt her. She doesn't even know anything."

"Son, let me be the one who determines that." He began to shut the door again, to Charlie's dismay.

She tried desprately to get eye contact with Jason but it was of no use. Neville shut the door more quickly then he'd opened it and there was no time.

"That son of mine thinks you're something special." he took his seat. "Some say you're second in command to Miles. Some even say you're his daughter. But I don't think my son cares about that. Is it because you're a pretty girl?" He drew the knife under her eye. "I could change that. Or maybe you slept with him? That's probably it. You're probably just trying to sleep your way to survival like your mother did."

Charlie tried very hard not to tremble but it was impossible now.

"Maybe you don't know about that. I can't imagine that's the sort of thing you and mommy want to talk about after so many years apart."

He withdraw the knife, now blood tipped, as suddenly as he'd drawn it and stood up. "I've decided to give you a reprieve. Don't get any ideas about escaping or about the posse coming to rescue you. They'd have to find you first and they won't."

She gazed at him, unsure what he meant to do.

"In a few hours, I will return. You _will_ talk then and I am going to make sure of it. I'm also going to make sure you don't escape." He swung the knife back in front of her face so she could see it well, then plunged it to the hilt into her shoulder.


	2. Chapter 2

Charlie could hear screaming. It took a few minutes for realize it was her screams she was hearing. She fought for control, to take in her surroundings.

Her vision blurred as she struggled to pull herself into an upright position. It cleared quickly but she couldn't sit up, her arms and legs still bound to the chair that was now lying sideways on a dusty floor. There was no other furniture in the room. She tried to remember what had happened. It rushed back to her all at once.

_"Charlie, it's ridiculous." Miles argued._

_"Miles,if I can get in there and just talk to Jason," she'd argued back._

_"Yeah, exactly, Charlie, IF you get in there!" he'd walked away from her at that point._

_"Listen to me, Miles! I can get in there, I can get Jason to iisten to me, I know I can." she'd hurried to catch up to him._

_"And then what? Are the two of you going to just take over this army Neville thinks he's begun?" _

_"I don't know! I do know convincing Jason to help us again is probably the only way we'll get Neville. We can work from the inside out!"_

_Miles stopped walking and studied her."You really think this wil work?" Doubt colored hs voice._

_"I think it's a good will listen to me. He won't hurt me, I know that much."_

_"I'm not worried about Jason, even though I don't trust him. I'm worried about the others in there, the ones who don't care about what happens to you." He weighed the risks. "It's a big if, Charlie."_

_"I think it's worth the risk to , it's not like anyone is having a better idea." She was stubborn, holding her ground._

_Miles tried another argument, "What if you get caught? I don't have the manpower to overtake that many soldiers."_

_"I'll be fine. It'll work, I'm sure of it."_

Charlie groaned as she remembered her confidence to had been right and at the moment she hated him for it.

She tried again to get up but couldn't loosen the bindings at all, not to mention any movement of her arms sent shooting pains through her shoulder. She remembered now the knife. The wound burned and bled as she fought the bindings.

The light snapped on above her, startling her. "Didn't I tell you that you couldn't escape?" Neville was back.

Charlie couldn't help it, she felt tears of frustration well up but shut her eyes before he could see them. She was determined not to break.

Miles wanted to break something. It had been well over five hours since Charlie was suppose to have returned. He paced back and forth across the meeting place, which had once been a Walmart parking lot at one point but now was an overgrown mess that made good camoflage. He paced a small clearing where the concrete hadn't been destroyed by weeds.

"I told you not to let her go." Rachel remarked from where she sat on the sunwarmed concrete cross legged.

"Shut up, Rachel." he replied, furiously even as he thought the same thing.

"Charlie is a very capable young woman. She's smart and resourceful. I'm sure she's fine." Aaron tried to reassure them.

"Shut up, Aaron." Miles didn't want to hear it. He could not, would not, lose Charlie, not after losing Nora, it'd probably kill him,too. He stopped pacing, thinking of what he should do. "All right. Here's what we're going to do."

Neville had, with some effort, pulled the chair she was bound to upright. She didn't actually remember falling over in the first place, but figured she'd either fallen or been pushed over.

"Now. I want to know where Miles Matheson is." he demanded, tightening the bindings behind her.

The pain was going to kill her if Neville didn't first, she was sure of it. Fighting against waves of nausea, she was determined not to break.

"Listen, girl, we can work together or we can just end this here. I will kill that precious uncle of yours and then I'll take his place with President Foster. If I'm in charge of the Georgian Army then we'll be in the position to take over the Monroe Republic, possibly even the whole continent."

"No!" she cried out.

Neville raised his eyebrows. "So she speaks. I was beginning to wonder if I was going to have to bring some friends in here to help out."

"Miles will kill you for this!" she spat out.

"That's a chance I'm willing to take."

"He'll do it."

"Because you're his daughter?" Neville reached out and placed pressure on her hurt shoulder. "I'm beginning to believe you are. You're very much like him, did you know that? Not like Ben Matheson. He was a coward and would've broken within the first hour. Guess that doesn't matter now anyway, Ben's dead."

"You should know, you killed him."

"Yes, yes, I did. He was a Matheson. That's all I needed to know about him." He circled the chair, considering his options. "Enough about him.I want to know the whereabouts of Miles. I want to know if Foster is sending him more men. I want know why it was you who broke in here. He's got to be close by, he'd never let you go too far alone."

Charlie was thinking about her options while Neville ranted. She didn't have many, she knew. Miles would come, she was sure of that but it might take a while and he only had her mom and Aaron to help. Taking a deep breath, she finally spoke. "I wanted to see Jason." Truth, but not the whole truth.

He raised his eyebrows and laughed. "Seriously? You expect me to believe you snuck in here just to make out with my son? Miles wouldn't let you! No, there is definitely more to it then that!"

"No, really, that's all to it. I just wanted to see Jason again. I wanted his promise as second in command to your new army that I wouldn't be hurt. Miles doesn't know anything about this, I swear. Maybe it's your army that can defeat Monroe, I just want to make him pay." she was babbling now, saying anything so long as she could keep the truth from him.

Neville considered this. "I don't believe you. I don't see you leaving Miles like this unless there was a damn good reason and quite frankly, I don't think that seeing my son is a good enough reason." He studied her for a long time, it felt like forever to Charlie. "You want to see Jason."

"Yeah, I do." she agreed, not certain where he was leading to.

A/N - good? bad? Would love reviews!


	3. Chapter 3

_"Miles, I'll be fine!" Charlie brushed away his concerns. "It's just Jason!"_

_"Yeah. I know. I don't trust him or his father." he bent down and tucked a small knife into her boot._

_She yanked it out. "I don't need another knife. I probably won't even need the one I have. It's just Jason."_

_"And how many henchmen are you going to have to get past before you find Jason?" he put the knife back into her boot. "It's there if you need it."_

_"I can do this." she met his eyes._

_Miles shifted uncomfortably. "Charlie, it's not you I'm worried about." he lied to her. "I don't doubt you can do this. What I have a problem with is that you're going in there alone. It's not going to be easy to get in there and it won't be easy for me to get in there to rescue you if it's needed."_

_"Hey. I won't need rescued." she insisted. "Everything is going to be fine. I'll be back in a few hours. Just take care of my mom and Aaron til I get back, okay?"_

_Reluctantly he agreed. _

_She turned to go, then turned back. "Miles." she said, facing him. "I am coming back. I will be fine."_

_"If you're not back by tomorrow morning, I'm raising hell."_

_"I wouldn't expect anything less." She grinned and took off toward Neville's camp._

Miles shook his head at the memory and focused his attention on the job ahead, rescuing Charlie.

"Aaron, you're to be lookout, stay out of the camp unless you have no other choice."

Gamely, Aaron nodded.

"I'm not staying behind as lookout." Rachel declared. "That's my daughter, Miles."

"Wasn't even going to try to make you. You're with me. Stay close and don't shoot anybody unless you have to." Miles was glad to see Rachel finally sticking to Charlie, instead of constantly trying to avenge Danny's death. But it would be tricky, he knew, to take her in the camp - she would kill Neville if given the chance. "Here." he handed each of them a weapon.

"These are from the Tower." Aaron squeaked.

"Yeah, so let's play nice with them. No shooting at whatever moves, do not fire unless you have no other choice." He looked at them and sighed. It would do but it wasn't much against the men Neville had acquired.

Charlie was alone again. Neville had left to supposedly get Jason but it felt like it'd been hours since then. He'd left her in the dark and still bound to the chair, at least it was upright this time.

It was quiet, so quiet she'd begun to wonder if the camp had packed up and left her. Closing her eyes, she tried to think. She was pretty sure that the bindings around her ankles had begun to loosen, after all, she'd been working on them for a while by stomping her feet up and down and wiggling them side to side. It had made what seemed to be a deafening sound in the silence but no one came bursting through the door, so she thought it would be okay to continue. Suddenly, she stopped moving, aware of another presence in the room.

"Please don't scream." a voice whispered by her ear.

"Jason?" she whispered back, biting back a scream.

"Shh.I don't want anyone to hear." Deftly, he untied her feet and hands. "Can you walk?"

"I think so." Gingerly she got up from the chair. Her head swam but she stood mostly steady so she figured it was as good as it was going to get.

"Okay. Here." Jason slipped a cloth over her shoulders.

Charlie flinched at the rough fabric, tried to shove it off.

"No, keep it on. It's a militia jacket, you'll blend in better if need be."

"Makes my shoulder hurt."

Jason felt his face flame in anger. "Did he hurt you? He promised he wouldn't!"

"Just get me out of here and worry about it later." she whispered back. "Besides, what did you think we were going to do, play checkers?"

_Charlie was watching Neville's camp, trying to spot Jason even though she didn't plan on breaching until nightfall which would, she hoped, give her enough time to talk with him and get back to Miles before daybreak._

_Neville wasn't stupid, she had to give him that much, he'd posted at least four guards that she'd seen and that was just for daylight hours. Her goal until nightfall would be to not be noticed by the guards. Neville wasn't going to take kindly to anyone breaching his camp much less a Matheson._

_Carefully, she walked the perimeter, glad for the trees that gave her cover and some shelter from the merciless sun. On her second trip around she finally spotted Jason. He was talking animatedly to another soldier. The pair weren't too far from where Charlie stood and she wondered how to get his attention without the other soldier noticing._

_Slowly, she crept forward so that she was nearly to the edge of the camp but still within the safety of the trees. Crouching, she waited for what seemed forever for the pair to finish talking. The other soldier walked away finally, stil talking but Jason stayed where he'd been standing, much to her relief._

_"Jason." she called softly._

_It startled him and he looked around cautiously, then squinted into the woods. A flash of blonde as Charlie stood up and he knew. After another furtive glance around he stepped into the woods to join her. "Charlie?"_

_"Hey. Long time no see." she grinned._

_"Why are you here?" Jason sputtered. "You shouldn't be here, it isn't safe for you!"_

_"I need to talk to you. It's important."_

_"Important enough to risk your life? Your mom's life?"_

_"What are you talking about?"_

_"My dad cannot see you! He's placed a bounty on you and your mother._

_"So did Monroe, that's not going to stop me from doing what needs done."_

_"And just what is that?" He took her arm and tried to pull her deeper into the woods._

_"Let go of me."_

_"Fine." he dropped her arm. "But, seriously, Charlie, why are you here?"_

_"Your father is trying to take over Monroe's militia."_

_"Yeah, I guess. It's not like he shares all his plans with me. Charlie, get to the point." he demanded._

_"Yes, Charlie, please do." Neville himself appeared behind them. He looked around. "So, where's the posse?"_

_"Dad, leave her alone. She'll just leave now, okay?"_

_Neville looked at his son, considering. "Today is your lucky day, Charlotte Matheson. You get to live." He yanked her into the camp._


	4. Chapter 4

Sneaking out of camp was one thing. Jason could think of a million reasons for that, most of them believable. Even more so since he had a girl hanging off his arm. If seen, it would seem as though they simply were a young couple intent on being alone, just as long as no one looked closely at Charlie. He had added a cap to her disguise, tucking her hair up inside it, hoping it would fool anyone looking at them.

"All right. I'm going to take you as far as I can. Hopefully your uncle will be coming soon."

"He said he'd raise hell if I wasn't back soon." Charlie answered, wearily.

"I have no doubt, so let's get you out of here before we have another battle on our hands." Jason guided her along. "I wish I had a lamp or something for you."

"I'll be fine. Found my way here, didn't I?"

"You did. Okay, this is a med kit." he slung a knapsack on her good shoulder. "Either your uncle or your mom probably can stitch up your shoulder."

"Goody. That'll be fun." she muttered, clearly thrilled at that.

"We're about twenty yards from camp. I'm going to have to leave you here. Dawn will be soon and I can't be found missing."

"You could come with me, join us again."

"I can't, Charlie. I wish I could but I can't." he gripped her hand tightly, afraid to leave her alone.

"Okay." she sounded uncertain.

"I don't like leaving you like this."

"I'll be fine."

"Yeah." Jason scoffed. "I might just kill him for this."

"Like hell. He's your dad."

"So?"

"You can't kill your dad."

"Wanna bet?" he was very angry about what had happened.

_Neville pushed Charlie into a small room. "If you cooperate, everything will be fine. If you don't, well, I warned you." He stripped her of all her weapons, including the knife in her boot. "Miles' contribution, I assume? Or maybe you're learning."_

_Charlie said nothing._

_"Oh, come on. You have to have something to say. Why are you here? Miles in the woods, watching his precious prodigy? That's the only way he'd let you do this. Don't worry, I have my men searching the woods, he'll soon join you for a nice reunion." Neville examined her boot knife. "This is a very lovely knife. Capable of serious damage, if you get close enough. Of course, you have to have a steady trained hand to get close enough." He pretended to jab her. _

_Out of reflex, she grabbed his wrist and twisted. The knife clattered to the floor._

_He raised his eyebrows. "Well, well. The country girl has learned her lessons well." He retrieved the knife and tucked it into his belt. "Why are you here? Where is Miles? Where is your mother?"_

_Charlie stared stonily ahead._

_"I told you this could be easy or this could be hard." he warned. This wasn't going to be as simple as he'd thought. He'd expected her to break at the first threat, after all, she wasn't a trained soldier, just a backwoods girl playing at soldier. Miles had taught his niece well, Neville had to grudgingly give him._

"You going to be okay?" Jason asked.

"Yeah."

He hesitated. "You sure?"

"I'm sure." she looked at him, glad for the darkness as she could feel the blush climbing her face. "Hey, um, thanks."

"Anytime, Charlie, anytime." he gave her a sad smile he knew she couldn't see and turned back to his father's camp.

Charlie sighed and pressed forward. She wanted to be as far away from Neville when dawn came.

"You hear that?" Miles stopped so suddenly, Rachel fell into him.

"Hear what?" she mumbled, pressed into his back.

"Shh. Listen." he hushed her. "Come over here." he pulled her behind a tree. Listening carefully, he waited a few long minutes, then made his move, reaching out for the person he'd heard.

"Who are you?" he shouted, holding the person tightly.

The person struggled and a cap fell to the ground. A tangle of blonde hair came tumbling down.

"Miles, stop!" Rachel cried. "It's Charlie!"

He spun the person around. She was fighting him like crazy. "Charlie?"

"Let me go!"

"Charlie, it's me. It's Miles and your mom, it's okay."

She stopped fighting. "Mom?"

"I'm right here." Rachel came over to her, "You okay?

"I think so." Charlie crumbled to the ground.

"Damn." Miles caught her before she hit the ground. "I'm going to kill Neville."

"Not right now. We need to get her out of here." Rachel picked up the knapsack that had fallen. "Can you carry her?"

Gingerly, he picked her up, noticing in the poor light the blood stains covering one side of the militia jacket she was wearing. "I'm going to kill him." he repeated, leaving the cap behind.

"I'll be in line to do so, but can you get my daughter to safety first?" Rachel said as they slowly began their way back the way they'd come. "Aaron will be waiting for us in about a mile."

"No, we'll need to get farther then that. Dawn's already breaking."

They walked for an hour, meeting up with Aaron along the way. His eyes had widened when he saw Charlie, unconscious in Miles' arms but a quick look from Miles had shut him up immediately and he'd fallen in step with them, walking in mostly silence.

"Okay." Miles grunted after a while. The sun was climbing the sky and heating up the day with intensity. "This is good enough, I think."

Rachel quickly laid a blanket down from her pack. "Lay her on this, it's better then the ground."

He put Charlie down on the blanket. She never stirred and that worried him. "What's in the knapsack she had?"

Aaron opened it. "A med kit, it looks like."

"Good. Hand it over." Miles reached for it.

"Also looks like some papers," Aaron rummaged through the bag. "These are military papers!"

"She did it." Miles murmured, scanning the papers. "She actually did it."


	5. Chapter 5

Rachel unbuttoned the militia jacket that was wrapped around Charlie, gently tugging it off. "Aaron, get me the med kit."

Miles tore his eyes off the military papers, "Rachel, do you even know how to clean and dress that?"

"You do?"

"Yes."

"So do I." she began cleaning the wound. She opened the med kit. "Gauze, sutures, antiseptic, a half empty bottle of pain meds. Someone didn't get the chance to restock."

"Maybe it was the only one she could grab?" Aaron suggested.

Rachel nodded in agreement as she sorted the first aid supplies. As she started to clean the wound, Charlie stirred and tried to fight her off.

"Stop, please, stop. Hurts."

"Hey, hey, it's me, Charlie. It's mom. It's okay now."

She opened her eyes, looking confused. "Mom?"

"You're safe now."

"Okay." she looked around. "Where are we?"

Rachel looked up at Miles. "About eight miles from Neville's camp." he answered.

"Where's Jason?" she clenched her teeth as Rachel resumed.

"Jason's not here." Rachel told her.

"But, but, he was here, he was."

"Sorry, sweetie. He's not here now."

Miles sat down next to Charlie. "So you saw Jason?" He was trying to distract her and calm her down long enough for Rachel to finish.

"Yeah."

"Did he hurt you?"

"Don't be stupid." she said, softly. "He helped me escape."

"All right." He hadn't really thought it had been Jason, the boy liked Charlie too much to hurt her physically. "Who did then?"

"Take a guess."

He sighed. "I already know." He gave her one of the pain meds Rachel had gotten out of the bag, turning his attention to her. "Are you sure you can do that?"

"I can do it. Just help keep her still. Aaron will be my nurse."

"Do what?" Charlie asked.

"Stitch you up."

"Oh." she shut her eyes again.

"Is she unconscious again?" Aaron asked, nervously.

"No."she opened her eyes again. Turning her attention to Miles, she said, "We were right."

"Stay still, Charlie. I can be done in just a few minutes if you do." Rachel told her. "Keep her calm, Miles. You can question her later."

"Not going anywhere." he assured Charlie. He hesitated for a minute but then swept her hair back. "No reason to get your hair in the way, right?"

Charlie didn't say anything for a few minutes. "It's okay."

"Aaron, give her one of the pills." Miles reached over her to get them before Aaron actually had the chance to do it. "One of these will help. You'll be able to rest. Talk to me, Charlie."

"About what?"

"Whatever you want."

"Okay." she struggled to focus on him. "Jason helped me escape."

"Good. That's good."

"Yeah. He wouldn't come all the way with me. I told him to."

Miles swallowed a laugh. Another time, another place, that answer could've meant something else. "That's 'll be okay."

"His dad wants to kill me. And mom,too." she found his eyes. "You won't let that happen, right?"

"Of course not. You're both going to be fine, just fine."

"There's a bounty out on us. What's new?"

"What about the papers? Where did you get them?"

She looked confused. "What papers?"

"The military papers. They're battle plans."

"Miles, I didn't get any papers. Neville had me pretty much the whole time."

"Maybe Jason got them for you?"

"Maybe." she thought about that for a bit. "He gave me a knapsack."

"You didn't know what was in it?"

"He said med kit. I know that."

"He must have wanted to help you." Rachel broke in. "You're all stitched up now but I want you to rest. Don't upset her, Miles."

"Jason is stupid. He's staying with his dad."

"Smart boy. Some of the papers are maps,showing where they intend to go next." Miles told her.

"Really?"

"Yeah, really."

"Huh." Charlie seemed to doze off then and Miles started to get up. "I think he's trying to take over the militia."

"Is that so?" He didn't look entirely surprised as he'd figured as much himself.

"Can't let him, Miles."

"We won't."

"Good." She closed her eyes again. "Tired now."

"Okay. You sleep. We're not going anywhere til you're ready." He got to his feet.

"Did she explain the papers?" Aaron asked as Miles came over to them.

He shook his head. "She doesn't seem to know anything about them. I think Jason got them for her."

"Why?"

"That I don't know. I guess he's trying to help us again."

"Dangerous." Rachel commented.

Miles shrugged. "Could be useful."

"If he really is trying to help, how is he going to get information to you?"

"He's gotten these to us."

"At the cost of Charlie being held hostage and hurt!" Rachel exclaimed. "She isn't going back to that camp."

"No." Miles was too tired to argue. He hadn't wanted to send Charlie in the first place, and to nearly lose her like that was too much.

Jason snuck back into the camp as the warning bells began to clang. He slid into his cot, discarding his boots as quickly as he could, hoping to pass munster as he knew his tent would be the first stop on his dad's list.

Seconds later, Neville burst in. "Where is she?"

"Who?" Jason acted like he'd just been woken up by the bells.

"The girl! The Matheson girl you're so fond of! She's disappeared!"

"I wouldn't know anything about that, sir. I've been asleep in here, _alone_. I haven't seen Charlie since yesterday in the woods."

Neville's eyes narrowed. He looked over his son, carefully considering what was Jason was saying and what the truth might be. "You're sure?"

"Yes, sir. I haven't seen her, I don't know where she is." He wasn't exactly lying, he didn't know where she was anymore. He hoped she'd had enough time to get far away from the camp. She hadn't been very steady on her own and that worried him.

"I'm not sure I believe you, son. The girl said the reason she came here was you, she wanted to see you. She didn't get to see you."

"Yes, sir."

"If you see her, you report it. Or else I will forget you are my son and punish you accordingly."

"Yes, sir."

Neville studied his son again, then turned and left the tent. "Fan out, search the woods, search every corner of camp, she couldn't have gotten far!" he yelled. He whirled around. "Keep an eye on him. He is not to leave this tent or go anywhere without an escort."


	6. Chapter 6

Miles added another stick to the fire. It was a warm night and it wasn't really needed but he wanted the light so he could keep an eye on Charlie, who was still sleeping.

"I don't think she's going to wake up til morning." Rachel whispered from her spot a few feet away. "Those meds knocked her out pretty good."

"Ration'em. I don't know when we'll be able to get her more."

"I know. I just don't want her to be in pain."

He didn't say anything to that, although he agreed silently.

"She's tough." Aaron joined in.

"What is the point of me having the first watch if you're both awake?" Miles answered, somewhat grumpily. "Go to sleep, both of you. I will keep an eye on Charlie, I know she's fine, but it's my watch."

Neither of them answered but exchanged glances. It was hard to know what would set Miles off, especially since he lost Nora.

Miles leaned back against his pack, thinking for a long time. It had been a long day. He had kept expecting to be able to turn to his side and tell Nora what the plan was, or rather, not have to because she had just always known, but she wasn't there. It would hit him at the worst times, especially at night, that she wasn't ever going to be there again. He looked over at Charlie again. She still had her eyes shut but was beginning to stir and move around.

He quietly went over to her, and sat down. "Hey. It's okay." He thought about waking Rachel, since it had been his experience with Charlie that he sucked at the comforting thing but decided not to.

Charlie opened her eyes. "What?"

"You're with us now, we got you out."

"I know. I remember. _Jason_ got me out."

"If you say so, kid."

"Where's Mom and Aaron?" A look of pain flashed across her face as she tried to get up.

"Shh, just lay down again. They're over there sleeping." he gently pushed her back down. "You need something?"

"No."

"You sure?"

"Maybe a drink?"

"I can do that." He was relieved that was all she wanted. Reaching for the canteen on his belt, he unscrewed the top, handing it to her."Can you hold it?"

"Yeah." Duh was what her eyes said to him, but he ignored it to help her sit up enough to drink. "Where are we?"

"Far enough away from Neville."

"That's not much of an answer."

"I don't have another one. It's late at night, I'm tired and I don't know what else you want me to say."

"You don't have to snap."

Miles gave her a look.

"Sorry." she looked away.

He sighed. "It's not you."

"I know." she traced the bandage with her good hand. "You know this wasn't your fault. And I'm fine."

"Charlie, go back to sleep. I like you better when you're quiet."

"I don't want to sleep." she argued.

"You need to rest, we have a long day tomorrow. Lots of walking."

"Where are we going?"

"We still have to stop Neville, right? Thanks to you and Jason, we have a shot at it."

"Really, Miles? Us and what army? Randall just blew up Atlanta, remember?"

"Shut up and go to sleep. We'll figure it out."

Neville was beyond furious. His men had searched the area all night, to no avail. Charlie Matheson was gone, no where to be found. He was certain there had been no way she could have freed herself, not being tied up, injured and guarded like she had been. No, she had to have had help and he was equally certain where that help had come from - his own son. He just couldn't prove it.

He personally combed the room where he'd kept her, checking every inch for anything, anything at all that would show how she'd gotten loose and how she'd escaped past the guards and out of the camp.

There was nothing left in the room. Only the chair he'd put her remained. The bindings lay cut on the floor under the chair. That alone suggested she'd had help, how else would she have cut her own bindings? Then again, she was Matheson's protege, as much as it irked Neville to admit it, Matheson had taught the girl well. She hadn't even broken when he'd sunk the knife into her. Most would've broken at that point.

A soldier cautiously approached Neville. "Sir?"

"What do you want?" he practically roared at him.

"The men would like permission to come in. They've searched everywhere they can."

Neville threw him a withering look. The soldier started to back away. "Let'em come." he reluctantly gave in. He knew they wouldn't find Charlie Matheson, wherever it was she'd gone. "Tell them I will personally be questioning any soldier that had anything to do with the girl. Be sure to bring my _son._"

"Sir, yes, sir." the soldier turned and ran to follow orders.

"We'll move out after we eat." Miles said, looking at his ragtag crew. "Lots of walking, so eat while you can."

"That means you, Charlie." Rachel turned to her daughter. "I also want to check your stitches."

"I'm not hungry."

"Eat, or no happy pill." Miles handed her some bread. "You can't take those on an empty stomach."

She took the bread unhappily. "Still not hungry."

"You will be later." Rachel settled herself on the ground beside Charlie and carefully began pulling the bandage off.

"Don't waste those, we don't have more." Miles warned.

"We might." Aaron remarked. "Do we still have any of Maggie's things?"

Miles considered this for a moment. "Pretty sure most of the med stuff is gone, but look through Charlie's pack."

"Hey!" she protested.

"Is there any med stuff left?" Aaron asked her.

"Not bandages, I know. Maybe some of her potion stuff."

"Can I look?"

"Fine." she grumbled. "Why not, it's just my stuff."

Aaron lugged her pack over to her. "Here, you do it."

"We don't have time for this, just do it." Miles said, turning the pack over.


	7. Chapter 7

Jason waited nervously in his tent, pacing the small area. He knew it was only a matter of time before his father put it together and realized who'd helped Charlie and stolen the papers. He kicked himself mentally. _ "Should've gone with her." _he thought. _"What the hell was I thinking, coming back?"_

There were guards outside, he could leave only in their company. Finding a way to ditch them would be the only way out.

"What'd you do, keep all of Maggie's things?" Aaron asked Charlie.

"No. Just some of them." she retorted. "It's my pack anyway, I didn't ask any of you to carry it."

"She meant a lot to you, didn't she?" Rachel remarked softly, looking at the small pile of belongings.

"Yeah." Charlie picked through the things that Miles had dumped on the ground. Everything she owned fit inside the pack and was now scattered. "Hey, look. There are some bandages. I thought it was all gone.

"Good." Miles took it from her. "Any kind of med left?"

She shook her head, "No, the bottles are empty." She started to put her things back in the pack, going slowly since she could only use one hand.

"Here, let me help." Rachel offered, picking up a small cloth pouch. "What's in this?"

"Maggie's ring and necklace. Danny's necklace. They're mine." she snatched the bag away.

"Okay." Rachel didn't say anything else.

Aaron picked up a few things and stuffed them back in the pack. "Rachel, don't ask her about Maggie. Please?" he said, quietly so Charlie wouldn't hear. "She's lost a lot in the past few months, she doesn't talk about it because she's a tough kid, but she doesn't need reminded either."

"I have the right to know about the woman who raised my kids."

"No. No, you don't. Especially not like this and not now. Just leave Charlie alone about it until she wants to talk to you." Aaron wasn't backing down.

Rachel opened her mouth to say something but caught sight of Charlie looking at them. "Everything packed up?" she asked, a bit too cheerful.

Neville was even more angry then he had been, if that was even possible. If it hadn't been enough the girl had gotten free, he'd just discovered the theft in his own office. A whole sheath of paper was missing off his desk. Only a handful of his men even had admittance to his office, his son being one of them. He knew, though he could not prove it, that Jason had been the one to help Charlie Matheson escape and steal the papers. Charlie had never been near his office, he'd made sure of that.

"I want my son brought to me." he ordered the men standing outside. "Also, the guards who were suppose to watch over the girl and so nicely let her _go_!" He practically roared the last command.

The soldiers, trained under Monroe, weren't used to Neville or his commands and hesitated to follow right away.

This angered him. "Go! Now!" he shouted. Neville was in no mood to be reckoned with. It was something his newly founded units were going to have to learn the hard way. If they had thought Monroe was tough as a field commander, they had a big surprise coming - Neville was even tougher in the field.

Miles studied the military papers. He'd spread them out in front of him, holding them down with rocks so they wouldn't blow away. Neville's plans seemed simple enough - hit every militia camp possible and convince them to follow him instead. Those that wouldn't follow would die. Unfortunately, Miles knew it wouldn't be quite so easy.

The nearest camp was a little over fifty miles away, according to the map. Four or five days travel, he figured, if Charlie could keep up. He didn't like making her walk such a strenous pace across rough terrain while hurt but saw no other choice.

A shadow fell across his papers. He glanced up. "Charlie, I distinctly remember telling you to rest."

"So did Mom. And Aaron for that matter." she answered, carefully settling down next to him, taking care not to hurt her shoulder any more then necessary. "See? Resting."

"Resting means go lay on the blanket in the shade." Miles was peeved at her.

"Boring. I want to see these military papers. What's in them anyway?" she ignored him.

He thought about ignoring her but knew from sad experience it didn't work - Charlie never gave up. He just answered her instead. "Neville intends to turn the militia, kick Monroe out of the Republic for good."

"Okay."

"He wants to control the militia himself."

"Not good."

"No."

"So what are we going to do about it?"

Miles began gathering the papers. "We could warn the camps ourselves."

"Except they'd shoot us on sight, wanted as we are through the Republic." Charlie reminded him.

"Well, there is that." he had to agree.

"Better option?"

"We could try to find Monroe, have him warn the camps."

"Then I'd shoot him on sight."

"No, you won't. We're going to need him. Pack up, it's going to be a long walk."

"Where?"

"Nearest camp is fifty miles. I figure that's where both Monroe and Neville are headed."

She nodded. "Stuff is already packed, since you kindly dumped it on the ground and I had to pick it all up."

Miles winced. "Probably shouldn't have done that to you."

"No, you shouldn't have. Now I've got my mom wanting to know about Maggie and don't I have enough to do without that?"

"You have exactly nothing to do until I say otherwise."

She scoffed. "Since when do I take orders?"

"Since today. Charlie, you're hurt, you can't even use your left arm, just take it down a notch and let everyone else do what needs to be done." he attempted to placant her.

"Miles, I can do it." she insisted.

Memories of the Philadephia tunnels flooded his mind, she'd insisted then she was all right. He hadn't believed her then either. "Charlie, I don't need you to do anything, just walk. Carry your pack if you want, but until we actually get to the camp, there isn't anything for _anyone_ to do."


	8. Chapter 8

By the end of the first day of traveling, Miles was worried. The meds were nearly gone and Charlie couldn't keep the pace, no matter how many times she'd insisted she could. At the first hint of sunset, he'd decided it was time to stop for the night, even though they had at least two hours of light left.

"Give her one of the pills. I don't like how she's looking." he demanded of Rachel, who raised her eyebrows at the tone but complied as she did agree with him.

"Miles, there aren't more then a handful left, enough maybe for tomorrow but that's it."

"I know. We'll just have to find more." he said.

"How? We're in the middle of nowhere, we're headed to a militia camp to be in the midst of what I can only imagine will be a bloodbath and you think you're just going to magically come up with more pain meds?" Rachel all but yelled at him.

"Camp'll have some." he remarked.

"If she can make it that far. We barely made eight miles today!"

"Will the both of you argue quieter?" Aaron broke in. "Charlie's sleepng, something we all should probably be doing soon.

"I don't want to wake her," Rachel spoke quietly now, a bit abashed.

"There's crackers, if you're hungry. They're not very good but it's food." Aaron explained.

"Thanks." Rachel took the offered tin. She glanced at them curiously. "Where'd you get these?"

He looked a bit sheepish as he admitted, "The Tower. I figure they stole my code, the least they could do is give us food."

"So you stole it." Miles stated, amused.

"Fair is fair." he shot back.

"He's right." Rachel put in. "Eat the damn crackers or don't, Miles, but he's right. They owe him a lot more the crackers."

Jason lay on his cot, trying to decide what the best plan of action would be. He knew time was running out, his father was not a stupid man and would soon find out what he'd done.

The tent was small and seemed even more constricting as he lay on his cot. There was only one way out. He knew his father had stationed guards on him, knew they would never simply let him walk away. He had nothing to bribe them with, no money or any kind of special food or favors. In the Republic, he would have access to lots of things for bribing, his father's name opened doors for him.

Here, though, in the Plains Nation, with his father hellbent on taking over the Republic and vendetta against the Mathesons and Sebastian Monroe, Jason didn't have any idea who to trust except Charlie. Even then, he couldn't really explain why he did.

"Rachel, you want first shift?" Miles looked at her over the fire Aaron had built. It crackled merrily, Aaron had built it a little too well.

"Fine." she answered.

"Aaron, you want third?" Miles inquired, as if they were just discussing what to have for dinner.

He nodded his agreement, obviously not caring which guard shift he had.

"All right then." Miles stood up. "Guess I'm going to catch some sleep while I can. Rachel, wake me up in about three hours." With that, he sauntered over to where Charlie already was asleep and stretched out a few feet away from her. He'd never admit it, but he slept close to her to make sure she was all right.

Aaron shrugged and said, "I'll be heading to bed in a bit myself."

"Suit yourself." Rachel remarked, staring into the night, lost in thought.

"What do you mean, he's not there?" Neville barked.

"Sir, your son isn't in his tent. I have ordered men to search the camp and the surrounding area." the soldier meekly explained.

"You mean the way they did for the girl?" he asked, sarcastically.

"They'll find him, I'm sure, sir. He can't have gotten far."

"Go away!"

"Yes, sir." The soldier scurried out of the room.

If anything, this current turn of events cemented together the puzzle of how Charlie Matheson had escaped for Neville. He sighed, he wasn't truly surprised but the betrayal of his son hurt more then he would've thought.

_"I have the right to know about the woman who raised my kids!" _

_The anger and grief flashing in Charlie's eyes. Would she ever forgive what had happened?_

_Aaron had been angry,too, sweet mild mannered Aaron, who'd become a loyal soldier, something Rachel had a hard time reconciling with the Aaron she'd known in the past. _

_"Just leave her alone, Rachel." he'd said. "She doesn't talk to anyone about Maggie or Ben or even Danny anymore."_

But Rachel knew otherwise. She'd seen the look in Miles' face when Aaron spoke. Charlie talked to him, she was sure. What did Charlie know? What had Charlie told him? Worse, what had he told her?

Rachel was sure Ben had never told Charlie about how Miles had been why she walked away all those years ago. She was also sure Ben hadn't known, but had only suspected about her and Miles' true relationship. That stupid relationship had, in the end, cost her everything. "_Well_," she admended, "_not everything_." She still had Charlie.

More then anything, Rachel wanted to know her daughter, wanted to be able to talk with her and love her. But she knew Charlie all too well, for Charlie had grown up to be just like her parents - strongwilled and stubborn. She'd never just sit down and let Rachel have her way.

"Thought I told you to wake me up." Miles came up behind Rachel, startling her.

The fire had burned low while she'd been lost in thoughts and the past, and their campsite was shrouded in shadows. The night had gotten cloudy and the moon was partially covered casting an eerie glow to everything.

"Sorry." she murmured, not really caring.

"No matter." Miles sat down and poked a stick into what was left of the fire, stirring the coals to start up the fire again. "Just so long as you didn't fall asleep."

"No, didn't do that." Rachel suddenly felt nervous around Miles.

He glanced over at her. "Something wrong?" he asked.

"Hmmm? No, just worried about Charlie." she quickly answered.

"Yeah." he agreed. "You should probably try to get some rest. Long day tomorrow, Charlie's going to need you."

"She shouldn't have to do this."

"No." Miles answered, quietly. He looked up into the clouds. "But she does. Charlie's a tough kid, she'll be fine."

"What exactly does that mean, Miles? She'll be fine?" She flung his own words back at him and then, without waiting for an answer she stomped over to their sleeping area.

Miles watched her go. "I wish I knew, Rachel, I really do." he whispered into the night.

A/N - long time since update. Sorry :/ I just haven't had much muse on this one. I really do want to finish it though, so ideas are welcome. I have the next chapter partially written, so that's good.

Also, I don't have access to internet every day so I can't always get to reviews, PMs, or updates. Soon, this may change!


	9. Chapter 9

Jason was hiding in a tree, glad for the cloudy night - it provided better cover for hiding. A few miles in the distance he could still see the lights of the militia camp. Every light seemed to be blazing, which he took as a sign that his disappearance had been noticed.

In his flight he'd found an abandoned militia cap and hoped it was the one he'd given Charlie two nights before. Since she was nowhere in sight he had some glimmer of hope that if it was her cap, it would mean she'd found Miles and was safe.

It was that thought that was his only companion during the long night.

Neville paced his office. He'd sent the officers away as he wanted to be alone. _"What kind of camp am I running?"_ he wondered. His men had let a prisoner escape with important maps,didn't even notice she was gone for over an hour. They'd let his own son escape, walk right past guards and they'd never even looked up.

There would be consequences for this.

He walked over to his desk. Picking up his maps, he studied them carefully. Even with the missing map and papers, Neville thought he still had the advantage over Matheson and Monroe. It was all in the element of surprise, and neither knew Neville's full plans.

In the morning, he figured they'd move out, toward the next militia camp. The business of having to look for Charlie Matheson and his son was causing delays. It was all he could do to hope the delays wouldn't hurt his plans.

Miles squinted against the bright morning light. He looked around, only he and Aaron were awake. The fire had died down sometime during Aaron's shift.

"I'm going to see about making some coffee." Aaron said, poking the ashes with a stick to restart the fire.

Miles raised his eyebrows. "Coffee? Real coffee? Where'd you get that?"

"Same place I got the crackers."

"Huh." Miles was beginning to realize that maybe Aaron was more an asset then he'd formerly thought. Apparently, traveling with Rachel had made a world of difference because the Aaron Pittman Miles had known before wouldn't have stolen food like this.

"Only one real problem. Well, two really. No pot and no cups." Aaron went on.

"Charlie has a cup. And you can boil water in one of the tins from the crackers if you're careful. We can also use the tins for drinking."

"Cool."

"Haven't heard that one for a while."

"Works," Aaron said, sheepishly.

"Yeah. See about the tin, I'll see if Charlie's awake and can find us the cup." Miles did not want to repeat what he'd done the day before. Even just opening her pack without permission seemed too much now. He went over to their sleeping area. "Mornin' "

"Hey." Charlie,too, squinted in the sun.

He knelt beside her. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine." she answered exactly as he'd expected.

"Charlie." Rachel was awake now,too. "You are not fine."

"Rachel, Aaron has coffee." Miles bribed.

"Real coffee?"

"Real coffee?" she sounded surprised. Real coffee had been scarce as hen's teeth since the Blackout.

"Yup. Stole it from the Tower. Ask Charlie if you can borrow her cup, you two can share that one, Aaron and I will make do with a tin as the other cups have disappeared."

"Go ahead" Charlie had pulled herself to a sitting position while they'd had their exchange. "It's on top."

"You're not fine," Rachel repeated again, as she untied the drawstring to open the bag. "You should be in a hospital, with a doctor."

"And here I thought you stitched me up just fine." Charlie tred to joke.

"It's not funny, Charlie." her mom was not amused.

Miles felt like hiding a smile, the first time in weeks he'd even wanted to smile, as he helped Charlie to her feet."Get the cup, Rachel, we'll have coffee and see what else Aaron stole for breakfast."

It was late afternoon before Miles finally let them take a break. They'd made good time and traveled nearly twice as far as the day before.

"We're about halfway to the camp, I think." he told them, looking at each of them. Aaron and Rachel were tired, he could tell, but he felt it was best to stop for the night now before Charlie was totally exhausted and in too much pain to rest. He wished there was more pain meds for her. "Might be able to make it by tomorrow night if we get an early enough start."

"Charlie can't make it twenty five miles in a day." Rachel exclaimed.

"Yes, I can." Charlie defended herself.

"I said _might_ be able to make it. It might take two days of travel, I don't know this terrain even with a map." Miles remarked. "Let's just take a break now, rest a bit, figure it all out, okay?"

Rachel didn't say anything but Charlie looked relieved there wouldn't be another big argument over her again. It seemed to her it was what Miles and her mom did best was argue, Charlie herself mostly being in the middle, especially the past few days since she'd escaped from Neville's grasp.

"Hey, you want something to drink?" Aaron came over to her. "I may or may not have stolen even more from the Tower."

Charlie laughed, it was was a good thing to laugh, to have something to laugh about. "Seriously, Aaron?"

"Well, yeah. Better then going hungry, since our own supplies are gone. Besides, they stole from me!"

"Yeah, yeah, that digital code thing." she remembered, even though she had no idea what it really was.

"Yup." he began pulling packages out of his pack. "I got crackers, cookies, some kind of kool aid,"

"What's that?" she interrupted.

He just stared at her a minute, then answered, "Drink mix. Makes like a juice."

She nodded in understanding.

"It's probably all right to mix up and drink, as many preservatives and colors that are in it." He yanked something else out. "Saved the best for the last. Strawberry jam. Thought we could put it on crackers like," he paused here, unsure if his idea had been a good one.

"Like Danny used to do." Charlie finished. She gave him a sad smile, to show it was all right, as she reached for the tin of crackers. "I remember,too."

"Um, I'm sorry, you want me to put them back?" Aaron seemed at a loss.

"No, it's okay. it's nice you got all this stuff."

"Well, we needed it and since it was just sitting there and they stole from me.."

"So, crackers for dinner again?" Miles said, from his spot under a shady tree.

"We have jam,too." Charlie called back to him.

"We need to go hunting or fishing or something. Crackers aren't very sustainable." Rachel took a handful anyway.

"It's better then no food." Aaron pointed out.

She nodded her agreement, "True enough."


	10. Chapter 10

"I was thinking we might as well stop for the night," Miles said, slowly. "I figure if we stop now, we will get an earlier start tomorrow."

"There is no way we're making it all the way to the camp by nightfall tomorrow." Rachel told him. "Charlie just can't do that."

He sighed, he'd learned long ago it was useless to argue with Rachel, he couldn't win.

"Miles, I'm fine." Charlie was trying to insist and break up the argument before it began.

"No arguing. I make the rules."

"You're not the general anymore."

"Not that you listened to me when I was." he grumbled at her. "I just need you to sit down, rest, eat some crackers, okay?

Charlie looked like she wanted to argue back but didn't say anything.

"Please, just keep your mouth shut." Miles suggested with a look at Rachel, who looked surprised at Miles' words since he was agreeing with her for once.

"It'd be best for the sanity of us all," Aaron mumbled, quickly moving out of Charlie's range as she pretended to smack him. He considered the Mathesons his family since he had no other, but they could definitely be stubborn at times and he'd learned the hard way it was best to stay out of the way when they got into certain moods.

"Sit, rest, eat. Now." Miles attempted to order her again. "I'll look for another happy pill, okay?"

"You know they're gone." she told him. "I'll be okay. I can always break into your alcohol stash."

"You won't have to break into it, I already know where it is." Rachel told her in all seriousness.

"She's underage." Miles pointed out, why he didn't know because did anyone even care anymore? He wasn't sure.

"Not that that stopped her three years ago." Aaron remarked, laying out crackers again.

"Aw, come on. That's not fair." Charlie protested. "You have to bring that up now?"

"Better now when you can't run." Aaron turned to the other two. "Ben and I used to run a still, for bartering. Charlie here, decided to convince her brother to break into it one night. She and Danny had quite the miserable time of it for a couple days." he told them.

Rachel smiled, it was the kind of story she'd wanted Charlie to tell her but her daughter hadn't yet forgiven her enough to give.

"Yeah. Didn't say I thought she'd never had it before." Miles amended his earlier statement.

"I could've told you that." Charlie muttered, mad at Aaron now.

"Whatever. It's a lousy medicine anyway, it'd only make you drunk enough to forget it and then you'd be both hungover and in pain." he sounded annoyed. "Now, can we just have some dinner?"

Jason didn't know exactly how far he was from his father's camp nor did he know exactly where he was. He didn't care, he figured anywhere was better then being there.

He suddenly slowed his pace, he could hear voices and see a light, possibly a campfire up a head. There had been few signs of people in the woods the past two days and he was immediately leary of fellow travelers.

Far as Jason could tell, he was still in the Plains Nation. Did the Militia have any hold here? He wasn't sure and didn't want to find out the hard way by running smack into a camp. Even if they did have food there. He hadn't ate much for the past two days either.

On the other hand, it would be good to know who he was sharing the woods with this evening. He crept closer.

There was a fire burning brightly in a small clearing. No food was cooking that he could smell, to his disappointment, if they were allies he would've liked somethng to eat. He could only see shadows, not people, so he crept a bit closer.

Miles walked the perimeter of their camp. He'd finally convinced Charlie to sit and eat something, even if it was only the crackers. Their supplies were dwindling to nearly nothing, and those stolen crackers and cookies would have to last til they reached the militia camp. Miles hoped they would be able to get something there at least, even if Aaron had to steal it again. It was the reason he was pressing so hard to get to the camp by nightfall the next day, he didn't like pressing Charlie into such a strenous hike like that anymore then Rachel did, but what choice was there?

He walked the perimeter again, certain he had heard something in the bushes beyond their camp. He threw a look over at the others, still sitting by the fire. They were quietly talking or something, undisturbed. Maybe it had just been a squirrel? He wanted to be sure so he walked a second time around.

This time he ventured into the bushes a little ways.

Jason shrank back behind the bushes, trying not to be seen or heard as he thought about what to do. The footsteps were getting closer and closer, he had only seconds to decide on his defense. Taking a deep breath, he stood up slowly. "Don't shoot, please." He kept his weapon at his side, ready if needed, but not pointed at anyone.

The footsteps stopped suddenly. The woods seemed very quiet, then a familiar voice spoke, "Jason?" Miles sounded shocked.

"Miles?" Jason was confused at first. "Miles, is that really you?"

"Yeah, kid. What the hell are you doing way out here? Charlie said you were staying with your dad."

"Things change." Jason stepped out from behind the bushes. "Charlie found you guys? She's okay?"

"She's doing okay." Miles was reluctant to give the boy much information, he still didn't trust Jason entirely even if he had helped Charlie escape.

"Glad you weren't militia, figured I'd be shot and dead by now, taking a chance standing up like that." Jason tried again.

Miles gave in. "You wanna see Charlie, don't you?"

"Could I? I've been worried since I left her in the woods."

"Fine. We're camped over there. You got any food or provisions on you?" Miles was hoping he did.

"Sorry. I was lucky to get away at all. Good old dad figured out I was the one who helped Charlie escape."

"Couldn't possibly have been that hard for him. A rock probably saw that one coming." Miles muttered, leading the way through the darkness, toward the campfire that burned brightly a dozen yards ahead.

Miles sauntered into camp, Jason only steps behind him. "Hey, Charlie. Brought you a present." He pushed Jason toward her.

"Jason?" Charlie asked. Her tired eyes brightened considerably.

He knelt in the dirt in front of her. "Yeah, I'm here now. You doing okay?" He brushed a gentle hand across the bandage on her shoulder, feeling a familiar ripple of anger go through him. His father had given him a promise that Charlie would not be hurt and had broken it as easily as a glass.

She nodded slowly. "Yeah, I'm okay."

"Good. I've been worried." Jason briefly wondered what would happen if he tried to kiss her but decided he didn't want to be on the receiving end of Miles' gun. He knew the man could shoot very accurately.

Rachel stood up and came over to Miles, who was watching the happy reunion with mixed feelings. "We hardly know this kid. For all you know, he is going to bring the militia down on us in the morning.

Miles shook his head, eyes still on Charlie. If that boy tried to go in for a kiss... "No, he won't do that to Charlie. Us, maybe, her, no. He won't risk it."

"You're willing to put everything and everyone on the line just because he likes her?" Rachel said, in disbelief.

"Yes, Rachel, I am. Leave it at that."

Realized it'd been a couple weeks since the last update, so I'm updating :) Y'all wanted a happy Jarlie reunion and there you go! Suggestions, comments, reviews, etc are always welcome!


	11. Chapter 11

Jason woke up as the morning sun was rising over the trees. For a moment, he was confused as to where he was. He sat up looking around, then remembering stumbling across Miles in the woods. He looked over at Charlie, sleeping beside him. He wondered how she'd pulled that one off without Miles shooting one of them. Reaching out, he brushed the hair off her face.

"Go away, Danny." she mumbled. "Chores can wait, I want to sleep."

"She dreams about her brother a lot."

Startled, Jason turned around. Rachel was sitting a few feet away, watching him. "Um, good morning?"

"My daughter likes you quite a bit." she continued, not missing a beat. She figured it was one of her few opportunties to question Jason without Miles or Charlie breaking in.

"She's great." he said, carefully, unsure where she was going with this.

"But I don't know anything about you except you're Neville's son. Your father killed my husband, Charlie's father." she stated. "For that reason alone, I don't understand why Charlie likes you."

"Because she sees I'm not my father." he fired back.

Rachel shrugged. "Okay, say I buy that. What else is there?"

"You do realize she's not twelve anymore, right? She can like whoever she wants." Jason didn't appreciate being interrogated like this, especially first thing in the morning.

"I haven't been there for her like I should've been." she continued.

"So she's mentioned." Jason fired back. "That's something we have have in common, me and Charlie, we each have a parent we can't get along with and yet, can't seem to live without."

"Charlie managed okay without me for a long time. She could do it again, if she had to. "

"You'd be surprised. She loves you." Jason shocked himself by giving her such an answer.

Rachel stared at him a minute. "I know." she whispered._

Neville led the charge out of the militia camp. Anger fueled him, he still was in disbelief that his son had betrayed him like he had.

"Remember, men, the Mathesons, Pittman, and my son, we must find them all!" he shouted as the men marched toward the rising sun. "We must not let them be free to destroy what is left of our great Republic!" He was determined that he would be the one to bring Matheson down, no matter the cost. He wanted the man either dead or as a prisoner of war. As far as he cared, Ben Matheson's wife and daughter could join Miles in prison or in death, it didn't matter to him.

A roaring cheer came up from the marching men as they ventured out beyond the woods in search of the renegades.

Neville looked out over the great expanse of land. It was far bigger then he'd realized from the maps he'd been studying. He had no real idea with Matheson and his gang could be hiding but he pushed that aside to think about how he was going to conquer the next militia camp. It wouldn't necessarily be as easy as the first had been.

However, with the capital potentially gone, the militia members would be scattering. It would be easier to convince the troops that remained of new leadership as long as they weren't actually in the Republic, far away as they currently were, there was no news of Monroe picking up the remaining pieces to fight back. If the reports Neville had been hearing of Philadelpha being destroyed with a nuclear bomb were true, he felt it was even a possibility Monroe was dead which would make things even easier for him to take over.

However, Neville also knew Monroe hadn't been in Philadelphia for quite some time so unless someone else other then Matheson had a grudge against the man, it was also possible Monroe was still alive. Neville knew there were plenty of others who would've killed Monroe, simply out of hatred. Neville didn't hate the man, he just wanted to push him aside, take over the Republic and do things right instead of the lousy way Monroe had been carrying on for too long.

Miles had meant it when he said he'd wanted them to get an early start, the group moved out quickly not long after awakening.

"Charlie seems to be doing better this morning." Aaron remarked, lagging behind with Rachel.

"Hmmm."she murmured, watching her daughter and Jason ahead.

"I think having Jason here will be good for her, boosts her spirits a little. She hasn't had much to be happy about for a long time." Aaron continued. "You know, I kind of miss the way she used to be. Always in trouble but at least she had Danny to hold her back."

"She was dreaming about him again this morning."

"She doesn't talk about it to anyone." Aaron replied, cautiously.

"So I've noticed. Charlie's gotten too much like Miles." Rachel added.

Aaron stopped and turned around to look at her. "Hey. There are a lot of worse people she could be like. I don't particularly like him but I know this much - there is nothing he won't do for her. He's actually a lot more like Ben then he realizes."

"You'd be surprised how much she's like him." she muttered, brushing past him.

Aaron stared after her in confusion but didn't stop for very long as he didn't want to be left behind.

It was nearly mid afternoon before they took a break. The sun was blazing hot but they'd found a cool refreshing stream to sit beside as they pulled out the tins of crackers once more.

Miles watched Charlie and Jason sitting beside each other, he helping her open a tin and going to the stream to get her a drink. She smiled at him as she reached for the cup with her good hand. The pair reminded him too much of what he had had and what he had lost. The grief he refused to allow himself to face threatened to bubble to the surface once more. It was getting harder and harder to shove it down. There had been no time to face it and there would never be a good time. Right now, he wanted to focus on getting to the militia camp, on making sure Neville stayed away from Charlie and keeping his niece safe.

He closed his eyes, trying to clear his head. The past filled his mind and he opened his eyes, shaking his head, hoping to dispel the memories into dust.

"Hey." Charlie had snuck up and sat down beside him while he'd been battling his inner demons. "So, we're only ten miles away now? We could make that by midnight."

"Charlie." he groaned. "You're going to make yourself sick pushing yourself."

"I'm fine. Really." she quickly added as he opened his mouth to argue. "Besides, we don't have time to sit around if we're to get there first."

He hated to admit it but she was right. They absolutely had to be the first there.

"Sir, at our current pace it will take at least two days, possibly three to get to the camp." a soldier informed Neville.

Neville looked very displeased with this. "Not good enough. If the girl went back to Matheson, he'll be trying to get there first. Tell the troops we'll push through the night." It would make for exhausted troops but it was going to have to be necessary.

"Sir, yes, sir!" the soldier saluted, and turned to face his duties.

Neville leaned back. He'd allowed the men a small break, for eating and other necessities, but it wasn't going to last much longer. There just wasn't any time to waste after all the time spent looking for Charlie Matheson and his son. He figured to enjoy his time off for a few moments and bit into an apple. Good apples had been a rarity for years but being Monroe's right hand man had had its pleasures. Unfortunately for Neville, those pleasures were few and far between now and he knew exactly who to blame.

"We're out of fresh bandages now." Rachel caught Miles' sleeve.

"Rachel, we're out of fresh everything. I don't know what you want me to do about it."

"You promised to take care of Charlie. This, this is not taking care of her!" she was angry.

"Rachel, I know, okay? I'm doing the best I can. I'm not the one you're mad at anyway. Save your anger for Monroe." Miles didn't even try to argue. He was just too tired to even try anymore.

"She says you agreed to press on to the camp tonight."

"Eh, not so much agreed as she suggested it and I didn't say no."

"Miles, you can't let her go on like this."

"And what choice do we have?" he pointedly asked. "Would you like us to simply stop and let Neville or Monroe kill us all? Because I don't think either of them are going to care much about her or you or anything else. We're in their way and they want us out."

"I just want her safe. This is not keeping her safe." she said, softly.

"Charlie can take care of herself. She's gotten pretty good at it." he admitted, more to himself then her.

"She shouldn't have had to."

"But she did."

Yay! We're almost to the end! I think this is the longest story I've ever written :) As usual, reviews, comments, ideas, etc are welcome and very much wanted.


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